Cricket Round-up: Essex all out for 75

THE encounter between first and second in the Championship table at Leicester yesterday provided an extraordinary tale of tumbling wickets as second-placed Leicestershire bowled out Essex, the leaders, for 75, having made only 193 in their own first innings, writes Patrick Miles.

The hosts won the toss and batted, after which Tim Boon stood at one end watching his team-mates fall. He made 58 before becoming one of Neil Foster's four victims, Mark Illot also capturing four.

Essex took to the crease but quickly succumbed, in 23.4 overs to be precise, to the bowling of David Millns and Winston Benjamin, who took three wickets each. Only Mark Garnham, with 21, and Foster, with 13, reached double figures for the visitors.

At Cheltenham College, Sussex made 324 in their first innings, Neil Lenham top-scoring with 83, and Gloucestershire were 43 without loss at stumps.